The Western men and women were runners-up in 2002, as Arkansas-Little Rock picked up the team titles. In the SBC pre-season poll, WKU was selected by league coaches to win both championships, while the UALR men and women and the New Orleans women each collected first-place votes.
The women will run a 6,000-meter race on Saturday, and Lady Topper Bonita Paul (Sr., Capetown, South Africa) has the league’s top time, which she ran at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. on Oct. 18. She finished sixth overall in 21:09.21. Paul is the only woman in the Sun Belt to be named as the league’s runner of the week twice in 2003, garnering the award on Sept. 23 and Oct. 21. Cara Nichols (Jr., Bowling Green, Ky.) and Nicole Jaggers (Fr., Bowling Green, Ky.) are also on the league’s top-10 list over 6,000 meters, ranking fifth and tenth, respectively.
The men will be competing on an 8,000-meter course, and WKU’s Enda Grandfield (Sr., Kerry, Ireland) has the league’s top time over that distance (approximately five miles) this year. On Sept. 20, Grandfield finished third overall – second collegiately – at the Old Timers Classic in a time of 24:59.39. That was the 19th fastest time in the history of Kereiakes Park’s 5-mile course, and Grandfield was only the ninth Hilltopper ever to complete to race in under 25 minutes. Also ranking in the league’s 8k/5-mile list for Western are Daniel Roberts (Jr., Monticello, Ky.) and David Altmaier (Sr., Somerset, Ky.), who are fourth and sixth, respectively.
Since the Hilltoppers joined the league in 1982, the men have won 11 team championships, including a string of six straight from 1982-87 with back-to-back championships on two other occasions. In fact, the Hilltoppers have never had a team finish lower than third in the school’s 21 years in the league. The Toppers, however, have not had a team or individual title since 1998, when Aaron Mullins claimed the individual crown to lead Western to a team championship.
The Lady Toppers have also had their fair share of success since the SBC added women’s cross country in 1985. WKU won the team title each of the first three years and has added six championships since, and also has six runner-up finishes.
The championships will begin 10 a.m. (CST) with the women’s race, with the men’s competition scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
